More than three quarters of a million Australians were the victims of identity theft in the past year, costing the average victim about $4,000, credit bureau Veda says. Illegally obtained personal information fuels cyber crimes like online theft, the company said, and globally, billions of dollars are lost to cybercrime. When thieves broke into Rhonda’s supposedly secure mailbox she thought ...

About 330 more Australian troops will begin heading to the Middle East tomorrow as part of a boosted contingent in the fight against the Islamic State group. Federal Cabinet has signed off on the deployment, which was first flagged six weeks ago. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the troops will be embarking on a two-year mission, with most put to ...

A Sydney grandfather jailed alongside murderers and given the lash after being caught with home brewed alcohol in Saudi Arabia has now been told he cannot leave the country. Peter Mutty, 57, from Rosebery in Sydney’s inner south, has now been forced to sell his home to cover costs while he remains trapped in limbo in the Gulf state unable ...

Several Sydney universities caught up in a cheating scandal that includes students using essay writing services say they are responding and cracking down on the new cheating method. The vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, Dr Michael Spence, said he would personally head a taskforce to investigate academic misconduct in the wake of new methods of cheating. The assessment cheating ...

Disability groups have backed calls for a broad inquiry into the education of children with a disability, following revelations an autistic Canberra school student was confined in a cage-like structure. Graeme Innes, who served as the nation’s disability discrimination commissioner from 2005 until last year, has called for such an inquiry, warning the ACT case was not an isolated incident and schools across ...

Drug-addicted teenagers should be required to live in rehabilitation centres, with the current system failing to help many of the state’s most vulnerable get clean, a magistrate says. Children’s Court Magistrate Jennifer Bowles realised how little she could do to help such children when confronted by the mother of teenager Greg,* who had tried and failed six times to complete a ...

Over 70 mental health organisations have written to prime minister Tony Abbott imploring him to maintain $300m in annual funding to mental health services that are preparing to sack staff as they face an end to commonwealth grants on 30 June. Groups including Headspace, Suicide Prevention Australia, the Black Dog Institute and Sane Australia wrote that “the continued uncertainty is now resulting ...

Australian scientists have uncovered what is believed to be the largest asteroid impact zone ever found on Earth, in central Australia. A team lead by Dr Andrew Glikson from the Australian National University (ANU) said two ancient craters found in central Australia were believed to have been caused by one meteorite that broke in two. “They appear to be two ...

Labor is demanding Prime Minster Tony Abbott detail what work meetings he scheduled in Melbourne on Sunday after revelations he used a taxpayer-funded jet to attend a Liberal Party donor’s birthday party. Mr Abbott began his Sunday in Brisbane then flew to Sydney to attend New South Wales Premier Mike Baird’s election launch, which began at 11am and concluded just ...

Ireland’s Prime Minister has taken offence to a St Patrick’s Day video message from Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told an Irish newspaper he had watched Mr Abbott’s video and rejected the perception that Ireland was synonymous with alcohol. Mr Abbott prompted criticism last week for the video message, in which he awkwardly describes St Patrick’s Day ...